Research Cyberinfrastructure

Research Profiles

University of South Carolina Nuclear Engineering Program

The Nuclear Materials Laboratory

The Nuclear Materials Laboratory is equipped and licensed for working with uranium
and thorium based fuels with radiological hoods and inert atmosphere gloveboxes also
used for working with pyrophoric materials. Metallographic and sample preparation
tools are used for preparing materials for analysis in USC microscopy ad microanalysis
instruments or for analysis at partner institutions.High temperature, controlled atmosphere
furnaces are used for advanced fuel fabrication and testing. Induction heated furnaces
are used to 3000 K and a longer duration tube furnace is used to temperatures up to
1900 K. A custom-built, fluidized-bed, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system is used
for coating of fuel kernels including advanced TRISO fuels with ZrC. Other instruments
used for nuclear fuels characterization include particle size, porosimetry, density,
and surface area analysis. Thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetry
instruments are also employed in these studies at temperatures up to 2250 K.